Allopreening
by Ninnani
Summary: Mutual preening. The preening of one bird by another, generally (but not invariably) by its mate. Or Penryn and Raffe go to see the doctor about his wings. Rated T for sexual tension. Edited.


**A/N: written for girlisciousdreams on tumblr. I've been meaning to write for this couple forever and she gave me the right prompt to get me going. So here's some fluffy-ish sexual-tension raffryn for your enjoyment.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own these characters. They belong to the wonderful Susan Ee. I just took them out to play.**

**EDIT: 6/24/14 4:33 I cleaned it up a bit and had my beta read it when she woke up and we made a few changes. **

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Raffe spread his wings out on the floor of the office and Penryn's heart ached at the sight of them.

Beliel had not taken care of them. Feathers were broken and bent at odd angles, stained with so much blood and dirt they were no longer white.

His movements were stiff and his expression was dangerously blank. He ran his hands over the bloodied feathers, straightening and plucking with nimble fingers. He lingered over the jagged edges she had cut so long ago and her throat tightened.

She looked at Doc, "Can you do it?" Out of the corner of her eye she saw Raffe's shoulders tense.

Doc took his sweet time in answering, looking from Raffe to the mangled wings at his feet, to little Paige, clinging to Penryn's leg, and back to Penryn.

"In theory," He said slowly, making a show of cleaning his glasses, carefully measuring disdain into each letter. "But human children are vastly different than angels."

He wasn't afraid any more, Penryn saw it in his posture, heard it in the casual way he spoke. His shoulders were slack and his eyebrows were raised in a silent challenge as if to say,'make me.'

It infuriated her that he could speak about the atrocities he had committed so casually, that he could so callously toss aside Raffe's situation, like sewing the angel's wing back on was a task so far beneath him it didn't even deserve consideration. She opened her mouth to yell at him, but Raffe beat her to it.

He let out a blood curdling snarl, and before Penryn could stop him, he rose to his feet so quickly his wings whistled. Doc didn't even have time to look scared as Raffe wrapped a hand around his neck and pinned him to the wall. Doc's head whipped back and cracked against the plaster, his spluttering gasps filling the room.

"No, wait!" Penryn ran forward out of Paige's grip, ducking under Raffe's bat-like wings and gripping his forearm, "We need him."

Doc choked and clawed at Raffe's grip, but it only made him angrier. The muscles in his arm rippled and rolled as he flexed his fingers around the man's neck, squeezing.

Penryn tugged on his arm, but it was like trying to get a building to move, "Raffe!" He whipped his head around to glare at her.

His face was livid. His lip curled over his teeth and his blue eyes were wide, sparking dangerously. She jumped back like he had burned her. Paige was back at her leg in an instant, hugging her around the middle, flashing her razor teeth in warning. Penryn pushed her sister behind her. She had only ever seen him this angry once before, when she had been paralyzed in the basement below the Aerie.

To be on the receiving end of one of these looks was terrifying, and though she knew it wasn't directed at her, that Raffe would never hurt her or Paige, she couldn't help the instinctual fear that flooded her veins and told her to get them both hell away from him.

There was a split second where she didn't think Raffe realized that he had scared her, but she saw the moment it dawned on him and his face faltered. The blind rage faded from his eyes and he turned back to the doctor, regarding him coolly before tossing him aside.

Doc gasped and coughed, desperately trying to fill his lungs with air, trembling into the floor of the office.

"I don't care how you do it," Raffe growled at him, avoiding Penryn's gaze, "find a way."

He stepped over Doc's crumpled form and left the room, slamming the door so hard it bounced back open on the door frame. Penryn stared after him. She wanted to go after him, tell him that everything would be alright, that Doc could do it and he would have his wings back, but a glance at the angel wings on the floor, abandoned and unkempt, made her chest hurt.

Penryn put an arm around Paige, barely sparing Doc so much as a glance. She knelt down in front of her sister, stroking her scared cheek with her thumb.

_ Her eyes_, Penryn reminded herself, _look at her eyes. Don't hurt her again._

Soft, chocolate brown eyes stared back at her and Penryn managed to smile. "So you're the one protecting me now huh?"

Paige nodded, her tiny face completely serious. Penryn drew her close, and Paige wrapped her skinny arms around her neck.

"You tired?" Penryn asked into her shoulder. Paige didn't answer and Penryn hugged her tighter, "It's been a long day. Why don't you go to sleep, Paige."

She felt her sisters body relax against her the second the words passed her lips, and Penryn picked her up and carried her over to the leather couch, setting her down gently. She was already fast asleep, not even shifting onto her side the way she normally slept. Penryn tried not to notice.

Instead she turned to Doc, who had pulled himself upright to sit against the wall.

"Th- thank-,"

"Get up and get out."

Doc blinked at her, "Wh-,"

"Get out. I don't want you in here with my sister. Get out."

He stared at her for a few seconds, gauging whether or not he could treat her like he treated Raffe. Whatever he saw in her face made him decide against it, and he struggled to his feet, rubbing at his bruised neck. He hobbled out of the room without protest, leaning heavily against the wall.

When he was gone Penryn closed the door and turned back to the wings, bloodied and broken on the floor at her feet. Without really thinking she knelt in front of them and began to clean them.

She plucked the broken feathers and straightened crooked ones, remembering how Raffe had preened in that cabin in the woods. She shrugged off her jacket and tried her best to wipe the dirt and blood from the white feathers.

She tried combing out the grass and debris from the bottom of the wings, where Beliel had let them drag on the ground. She plucked out small stones and burrs and sticky seeds out of the feathered down. It was almost surprising how soft they were, despite everything they had been through. It was like cleaning a cloud and she let herself be absorbed in the process, listening to Paige's steady across the room.

When the door opened behind her hours later she nearly jumped out of her skin. Behind her, Raffe stood uncertainly in the door way, looking down at her through his lashes and if she hadn't felt like a child caught doing something she shouldn't it would have looked almost apologetic.

For a second they just stared at each other, Penryn in mid pluck and Raffe in mid step. His eyes flickered from Penryn to his wings, the left wing splayed across her lap and back to Penryn, darkening as he took it all in.

Penryn blushed, panicking. Maybe she'd done something wrong. Maybe wing cleaning was some special ritual in angel culture. Maybe she had insulted him, and he had been so angry when he left. What if she had made it worse.

His expression was blank again. Carefully controlled.

An apology formed on her lips, "Sorry, I just- they were- you were really mad and… I thought I could help. Clean them up for when he sows them back on."

He didn't say anything, he just walked into the room and knelt beside her, eyes locked on the wings in front of them, which (in her opinion) looked significantly cleaner then they had when he had stormed out.

"Sorry," She winced, arms held limply in her lap.

"You know," His voice was quiet and thick with something Penryn couldn't identify, vastly different from the vicious growl he had used earlier with Doc. Penryn risked a glance up at him.

His anger still flickered at the edges, she saw it in the furrow of his brow and the stiff line of his shoulders, but he seemed calmer. Where ever he had gone, it had cleared his head. She let herself relax.

He swallowed, his Adam's apple bobbing once. He placed a hand on the wing on her lap, stroking the soft feathers still stained a coffee-stain yellow, but Penryn couldn't help but be acutely aware of the pressure on her thigh, "Wing cleaning is up there with feet on the list of things you need to buy me dinner for."

She felt her blush creep down her neck, "Sorry."

He was looking at her now, blue eyes clouded over. His eyes flickered down to her lips and she licked them unconsciously, "You don't have to be sorry, Penryn."

The intensity of his gaze made her blood boil and she had to look back down at the wings to escape it, finding a few more crooked feathers to smooth over.

This blush was getting ridiculous.

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